Dave's Crusher Report

After riding the Crusher in the Tushar for the first time last year, returning for a successful repeat this year has been a major goal for a number of local cyclists. The Crusher is a spectacular, professionally organized event which has captured the imagination and interest of both professional and amateur cyclists. The impossibly massive drop and subsequent climb of the Col d’ Crush is something that has to be seen first-hand to really be appreciated.

     Cycling like few other sports celebrates and fetishizes suffering. The Crusher delivers a very heavy dose of suffering in a relatively short 69 miles. Generally speaking, conditions were a little better on the forested west side of the mountains this year with fairly smooth road surfaces from recent rains. Conditions on the exposed east side, including the Col d’ Crush, were significantly worse with deeper washboard and looser sand/gravel surfaces. The temperature was hotter than last year and the only real coping mechanism I had was to pour cold water over myself as often as it was available.

     Levi Leipheimer won the professional division for a second year from a deep pro field. Rexburg native Jerry Long had an outstanding age group finish.  The same group of locals who participated last year (Jeff, Brian, Ryan, Tim, and I) was joined by Ryan’s brother Robb. Our finishing order and times were very similar to last year. Readers of the blog may recall that early this season Brian and I made numerous small modifications to my cross bike to make it more suitable for the Crusher. Among those modifications, lower gearing saved my life. A substantial number of participants were forced to walk portions of the Col, but I was determined not to walk a step. On the steepest portions, I found myself grinding it out in my lowest gear, barely faster than walking pace.

     As I mentioned in an earlier post, Brian and Tim tore apart my bike bolt by bolt last week to find and eliminate a persistent creak. It was absolutely quiet during the Crusher. Every time I passed someone on a creaky bike I was glad not to be that guy.

     We had a lot of fun training for the Crusher and it is always satisfying to go to a race in a group with a shared sense of mission. The quality of the event and its logistics are outstanding and its scope is epic. But like last year, I am still a little conflicted about an event in which the fun to suffering index skews pretty heavily toward suffering.

     Thanks to Thomas and Stephen and Tim’s parents Burdette and Judy for coming along to provide moral and logistical support.